Hiya, i posted a few days ago about the rear light unit on my fat bob which shorted and just about caught fire. I've had another look this morning with a view to sealing it up to prevent water and road dirt getting in agin. this seems pretty much impossible as there is virtually a huge window in the rear mudguard designed for the purpose, impossible to seal. Now i'm wondering how can i water proof all the electrics in there. I think smearing the whole lot with dielectric grease would be a mistake as this stuff is conductive and would be the worst thing to do causing another big short circuit. I'm wondering if vaseline might be the answer. Say smearing a whole pot of vaseline over everything in sight. would that keep the water off the electrical parts and act as an insulater between adjacent wires? any other ideas coz this bike has to ride in the rain and filthy english roads.
cheers y'all, H

 

Put a gasket between the lens cover and housing.


deja vu...

 

Vaseline is not the solution. Get some gasket material and make your own.

 

there is already a substantial foam gasket between the lens and the mudguard, the problem is the window behind the lens which is always open and impossible to seal. Water isnt getting in via the lens mudguard join at all. its getting in from behind the the lens and the wiring junction is effectively not sealed from the elements at all.

 

Do you have pictures of this arrangement? I can not picture this in my mind.

 

bike is being picked up today but i will try to get some pics on for next week. thanks for your reply

 

Hi y'all, here is a picture of the rear light on my fat bob that nearly caught fire. My question is how to stop it happening again. As you can see from the pic it is pretty much open to the elements and no gasket is going to help. The red lines show the opening into the rear mudguard. The only thing i can think of to do about this is to smear a large pot of vaseline over everything in sight. Anyone else got a suggestion on this would be much appreciated.

 

Maybe this might help:
1 Cut a gasket from a rubber (car) inner tube and stick it to the bracket using glue
2 Make some tiny holes in the rubber gasket
3 Take off the wire pins from the connectors and pass the wiring through the tiny holes
4 Re-install the pins into the connectors
5 Put some waterproof duct tape at the wheel side of the tail light bracket